Twitter seems to be looking for additional revenue and subscribers for its paid subscription Twitter Blue. The company is therefore putting further, previously free functions behind the paywall. Among them are the popular Twitter polls.
The value of Twitter has more than halved after the 44 billion US dollar takeover by Elon Musk. This emerges from an internal memo from Musk himself. The company therefore seems to be looking for additional sources of revenue.
Twitter polls soon to be paid for as part of Twitter Blue
Elon Musk is apparently thinking primarily of Twitter Blue. In a tweet, he announced his intention to integrate further functions into the paid subscription. Accordingly, the popular Twitter polls are to be part of Twitter Blue from 15 April 2023 and thus subject to a fee.
In addition, only tweets from paying subscribers are to appear in the “For You” section in future. According to Musk, this is “the only realistic way to prevent advanced AI bot swarms from taking over”. The reach of tweets from non-paying subscribers could be reduced as a result.
Twitter: “Old” blue ticks to disappear as of April
However, there are no official figures on how many users look at posts in the “For You” recommendations. Previously, Musk had already integrated account verification into Twitter Blue, making it chargeable.
Meanwhile, the previous verification ticks are to disappear from 1 April 2023. This means that the blue badges will have a completely different meaning than before.
Before the takeover by Elon Musk, Twitter awarded the ticks to celebrities, companies, politicians and journalists after a check to confirm the authenticity of their accounts. In future, however, all Blue subscribers will be able to award themselves the icons. They will also look exactly the same as before.
